History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t1.12

v4.c63.t1.12

The eldest son has received special treatment in all ages down to modern times (vide p. 566 above). That treatment took various forms. Sometimes the texts say that the eldest son took the whole estate. Āp. II. 6. 14. 6, Manu IX. 105-107, Nār. (dāyabhāga 5) refer to this view. Manu (IX 105-107) allows the eldest son to take the entire paternal estate, provides that the other sons should depend for their maintenance on the eldest son as on the father, remarks that the eldest by the mere fact of his birth enables the father to free himself from the debt to the ancestors and that therefore he (the eldest) deserves to get from the father the entire estate.¹¹⁸⁶